Feedback
Welcome to our Client Experience Survey
The legal process can be complex and stressful.
As an individual with unique circumstances, you need your attorney to make the experience as successful as possible for you. We recognize that it is our job to earn trust and build strong relationships with our clients as we vigorously defend you in your case. We also know that your needs extend beyond what happens in the courtroom. As your public defender, we have both a duty and the opportunity to fight for you in and out of court.
To live up to the tenants of public defense and the legal needs of the community, we want to build upon what we are doing well and be responsive to concerns, complaints, and comments. Along with open and honest community sessions, partnering with community groups, and listening to our clients one on one, we are conducting this survey to hear from former clients. Our goal is to continually be accessible to Delawareans and to respond to needs and expectations of us while we provide the highest quality legal representation.
Thank you for your time and your feedback. Your honesty can help bring light to improvements for future clients.
Complete the Client Experience Survey
Learn more about the survey
What is this survey?
The Client Experience Survey is the first effort by the Delaware Office of Defense Services to collect first-hand data, impressions, and feedback from former clients. It is a self-reported survey administered in 2023 and open to adults who were clients of ODS and no longer have open cases.
Who is this survey for?
This survey is for any adult who was assigned a Delaware public defender and no longer has an open case.
This survey is for you if you can check all of the following boxes:
▢ You were represented by a Delaware public defender for your legal case.
▢ You are currently age 18 or older.
▢ You and your public defender are not currently working on an appeal.
▢ Your legal case is closed. Any one of the following circumstances means your case is closed:
〇 Your charges were dismissed.
〇 The prosecutor decided to not prosecute (called “nolle prosequi” or “NP”).
〇 You agreed to a plea bargain and have been sentenced or released.
〇 You received a verdict at trial and have been sentenced or released.
If you are still unsure whether this survey is for you, please reach out to haneef.salaam@delaware.gov to help you out.
Can I take the survey if I am incarcerated or on probation?
Absolutely. The survey is for any adult who is a former client of ODS, as described in the checklist above.
Can I take the survey if I was under 18 years old when ODS defended me but I am over 18 now?
Yes! Just make sure you can check all the boxes in the checklist above.
According to the checklist, I’m not eligible to take this survey, but I have a relationship to your services and have feedback for you. How do I give feedback?
Thank you for wanting to get in touch.
If you are a current client
Please speak to your attorney (also known as your “public defender”).
If you are not comfortable sharing the information with your attorney, please speak your attorney’s supervisor. Supervisors and their contact information on our attorney phone list.
If you were never a client
Please contact us using the appropriate phone number on our contact page.
This particular survey centers former clients.
We are acutely aware that family members, community groups, and others deserve to be heard. And we know that trust and collaborations help all of us to better serve Delawareans. Please get in touch in other ways if you have something to share with us.
How long will the survey take?
The survey should take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete.
For assistance or special accommodations, please contact haneef.salaam@delaware.gov.
Who is conducting this survey?
This survey is conducted by the Delaware Office of Defense Services. Other names that many people call this office are “public defender” and “ODS.” Our website is https://ods.delaware.gov/.
What will you do with everyone’s responses?
This survey is our opportunity to hear from former clients as a process for accountability and improvement and as new data that we could present in public efforts to improve policies and practices that impact our clients.
We plan to share what we discover, being transparent about the results. Anything we publish will be anonymized or aggregated to protect identities.
We also plan to create reports and staff training to help our staff members understand what our former clients are telling us.
Are my responses confidential?
Yes. We will not publish or release personal information without your consent.
If the circumstances related to a response would make it easy to personally identify a respondent, we will protect the respondent’s privacy and safety by using ethical data measures. For example, we might abstain from reporting an identifiable event at the neighborhood level and instead report at city or county levels. Or we might note that a response was removed to preserve privacy.
Will I be completely anonymous when I take the survey?
You can choose to identify yourself or remain anonymous.
If you want to include your name or other personally identifying, then your responses will not be anonymous to the staff members who review the full surveys.
There are three types of optional personal information.
- The survey asks if you are willing to be contacted for follow-up. If you say yes and we get in touch, then we will use the contact information you give us.
- The survey includes places where you can type your comments. If you type in personal information, then the staff members who review the full surveys can see it.
- If you want to provide case information such as the name of a charge or a date but you can’t remember all the details, then you have the option to enter your SBI number so that we can look up that information for you using your real identity. This is completely optional, and you do not have to provide this information in order to give us feedback.
There is only one piece of required personal information.
The survey asks for your birthdate to double-check that you are an adult and eligible for the survey. A limited number of staff members who review the full surveys can see the birthdates.
How do I take the survey?
There are several ways you can participate in the survey.
Take the survey on your phone, tablet, or desktop.
Download the survey as a PDF and fill it out on your computer. Then email it back to us, or print it on paper and mail it to us.
Print the survey to paper and fill it out by hand. When you’re done, you can take pictures of all the pages and email them to us, or you can mail the pages to us.
Contact haneef.salaam@delaware.gov to discuss other accessibility support.
What languages is the survey in?
The survey is available in Spanish and English.
I have another question that isn’t answered here. Who do I ask?
Please address questions about this survey to haneef.salaam@delaware.gov.